Chapter 21
Brock and Reba immediately began planning their wedding…after their romantic even of celebrating of course. Since they only had one week they had so much to do. Brock was worried that possibly maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have a wedding so soon. He was worried it would likely raise Reba's blood pressure with all the stress it brings but he was surprised by how relaxed she was and how much fun she seemed to be having by doing it.
It had only been a couple of days since he proposed but she seemed to have gotten a lot done in that little amount of time. He should have known though because as soon as they told the kids and Barbara Jean Reba was immediately pulled away by Cheyenne and BJ to start planning. He was quite surprised when he learned they already had the guest list done and phone calls out to everyone. They didn't have enough time to send out formal invitations. He was surprised so many people said yes to coming. He figured some of them wouldn't because of the short notice but by the time they were done with the guest list he was surprised to find only four people said they wouldn't be able to make it, leaving them with 28 guests.
With the guests out of the way it was time to work on flowers, reception and dresses. Reba wanted to keep it as simple as possible. Right now Reba, Barbara Jean, and Cheyenne were working on what kind of cake would be made. Barbara Jean made about ten different types of cakes for Reba to try and then once Reba chose the one she liked then Barbara Jean offered to make it for her since she was such an excellent cook.
"How's it going ladies?" Brock asked walking into the kitchen.
Reba smiled. "It's going great. I had forgotten what perks you get when getting married." She said holding up the vanilla cake with chocolate frosting to him. "Taste this."
Brock frowned. "So the cake is the only good thing about marrying me."
"Of course not but…it's still a big plus." She giggled. Brock just smiled and took the cake from her to taste.
"Here Reba…" Barbara Jean interrupted. She slid a piece of chocolate cake over her way. "Try this one. It's a dark chocolate with mocha cream filling and frosting."
Reba smiled and took her fork, taking a generous amount of cake. The minute the sugary sweet cake entered her mouth her eyes closed and she made a strange like moaning noise.
"I've never heard you make that noise before, is that a good thing?" Barbara Jean questioned.
"I have." Brock said smirking. "Trust me; it's a very good thing."
"Ewwww…Dad." Cheyenne said with a shiver. She honestly didn't need to know that. She turned to her mother. "So how's the cake."
Reba smiled and swallowed what little she had left in her mouth. "If it was possible to marry a piece of cake I would dump your father right now."
"Hey!" he said trying to sound offended.
Reba ignored him and took another bite with a satisfied smile. "This is so good. I think we might have found the cake."
Barbara Jean squealed and immediately began writing in her notebook where she kept all of the details to the wedding. "Now we need to discuss flowers…" BJ said looking up. She frowned when she saw Reba was still eating the cake. "Reba put the cake down and listen."
Reba glared and sat back in her chair, holding her cake quite close to her. "No and we don't need to discuss the flowers. I already have decided that I want to have white roses, their gorgeous and simple." She then took another bite of the cake as Barbara Jean wrote white roses down in the notebook.
"Mom…" Cheyenne spoke up getting her attention or trying to but it seemed that the she was really into the cake. "Moooom…"
Reba looked up and smiled. "What?"
"The house is burning and you can save your granddaughter or this cake, what do you choose?"
Reba frowned and looked at the ooey gooey chocolate cake. "That's not fair the cake doesn't have legs."
Cheyenne rolled her eyes as she pushed a magazine over to her mother. "My real question is: what dress are you choosing to wear? You haven't looked at one of the magazines I showed you."
Reba actually put the cake down for a moment and picked up the magazine. "I have looked through these. I looked at a couple of magazines last night but I didn't find anything I liked so I'm thinking of just going to a bridal boutique. I have no idea what dress to wear."
"Why not just where the dress you wore at your first wedding to me?" Brock questioned.
Reba rolled her eyes, dropped the magazine, and picked the cake back up. "If it's cheaper it's better huh?"
"No I just thought it would be easier."
"I already thought of wearing my old dress but its two sizes too small and I kind of like the idea of wearing something different, something new."
Brock shrugged. "Just a suggestion."
"Well I already made an appointment at Nadine's Bridal Boutique downtown tomorrow for all of us anyway." Barbara Jean spoke up. "No way you are going to wear some old dress in my wedding." She said not looking up from her notebook.
Reba raised an eyebrow. "Isn't this my wedding?"
"Tomato, Potato."
"Don't you mean…oh never mind." Reba rolled her eyes and went back to her cake.
-
By the time tomorrow came Reba was extremely excited to be looking at dresses. She knew she wanted something elegant and simple, maybe a little flash here and there, maybe some poof but not over the top. She, like every woman, wanted to feel like a princess on her wedding day but she didn't want to be completely flashy. She only hoped Barbara Jean understood that. She adored her best friend for helping her out so much but the woman had the tendency to go over the top. Barbara Jean already tried to convince her to have doves at her wedding and she kept trying to tell her bigger was always better, as much as that was true in some cases, it just didn't work with the quiet and small wedding Brock and Reba wanted.
"Come on Mom. You have to pick something."
Reba sighed for the millionth time as she searched through the dresses that were dressed on manikins around the store. "I can't just pick one. It's not that easy Kyra…and we've only been here for ten minutes!" Kyra had been complaining about shopping since they got into the car. She didn't like it. She hasn't like shopping since she was little. Cheyenne and Reba were always the one going out on mother/daughter outings while Brock entertained Kyra with something she loved.
"I just don't see why I need to be here. You're just going to pick some ugly dress out and make us wear it and that will be it. We don't get any say."
Reba glared at her daughter who was sitting on the plush cushioned chair next to a row of windows with wedding dresses in them. "You still have to try the dress on, now stop complaining and just have some fun."
"Yeah right." Kyra mumbled.
Reba sighed and looked back to the dresses. "What do you guys think of this?" she said pointing to a beautiful silk white medium thick strapped dress that went straight to the floor and a few beads surrounding the waist.
Barbara Jean gagged. "Too plan. What about the one next to it?"
Reba shifted her eyes to the one next to it and her eyes widened. The top was okay, it had crystal beads throughout the top, not too low cut, but the bottom, wow, it was huge, it was more than a little poof and the train trailed all the way to the wall behind it, which was about five feet away. "That is too much." She said quickly.
"But it's so pretty!"
"It's too much." Reba repeated. "But keep trying."
"Talk about diva." BJ mumbled.
"What?" Reba said turning sharply. Barbara Jean just tried to look innocent and moved on. Reba moved on as well, sighing as she looked through dress after dress.
"Ooo!" Barbara Jean squealed. "What about this?"
Reba turned and looked at the dress Barbara Jean was holding. "That's a bridesmaid dress."
"I know that, what do you think of it for us bridesmaid to wear?"
It was spaghetti strapped lacey bright yellow dress with daisy's all over it. Reba gagged. "Ugh, Barbara Jean, I appreciate your effort but that dress…" She couldn't even say it. She just said, "No."
Barbara Jean shrugged and just put it back and continued looking.
Reba could feel her stomach churning as she looked. She didn't know if it was nerves or the baby. She was hoping it was just the baby. She shouldn't be nervous. She was only getting married. But it was just Brock. Her Brock. She loved him and she couldn't imagine why she would be nervous. She was married to him before and she knew that their relationship when they started it, that it would more than likely end with marriage so why didn't her stomach stop?
"What about this mom?"
Reba turned to the sound of Kyra's voice and she was quite surprised by what she saw. The dress her daughter was pointing to was gorgeous. It was a strapless silk dress with crystal beading right under the bust line and the skirt was a little big but not too bad and was held up in bunches by crystal beaded pins and the best of all…no train. Reba loved it. It seemed like the perfect dress but of course she would have to try it on.
"Excuse me…" Reba said smiling to the lady behind the counter. "I would love to try this dress on please."
-
After the dress shopping Reba was too exhausted to do anything else and collapsed on the couch when they all arrived home. She had gotten the dress she had tried on. There were only a couple of alterations, the length was a little long but Nadine, the owner of the shop, assured her she would have the dress ready by Friday morning, just enough time for Reba to try it on, make sure everything was perfect before Saturday. She was a little nervous with it being so close to her wedding day but she would just have to deal with it if she wanted the perfect dress.
But she shouldn't have worried because by Friday her dress was ready as well as Cheyenne's, Barbara Jean's, Kyra's, and even Little Elizabeth who was to be the flower girl of course. Their dresses were beautiful. Reba picked simple strapless silk dresses that ended just below the knee. Cheyenne's and Kyra's would be navy blue with a blue pastel ribbon around the waist set with a small bow in the back. Barbara Jean's was exactly like that except since she was maid of honor her dress was blue pastel with a navy blue ribbon. Little Elizabeth's was the same except white with navy blue ribbon and tiny medium thick straps to hold up the dress.
So by Friday everything was done. The church was decorated for tomorrow. The flowers were ready, the food was taken of, and the small reception hall they managed to get was all set along with the DJ. The dresses were perfect, the people were coming, everything was ready and Reba was nervous.
She knew by now her stomach churning wasn't sick from being pregnant because when she got morning sicknesses it was very different feeling. It wasn't a feel of dread or anything, like she felt she would regret remarrying Brock. No, that wasn't it at all. She was just afraid of what he would think of her tomorrow and for the rest of their life. All this week she kept thinking that she wasn't the same woman she was when they were married the first time, what if he didn't like the new Reba? What if he decided again someone else would need him?
"Your turn Mom."
"Huh?" Reba asked looking up.
"Your turn." Cheyenne said with a smile.
Reba looked down and suddenly remembered that they were playing Candy Land with Elizabeth while the guys stayed over at Barbara Jean's house since Brock's stuff was all here and moved in and his condo would be going on the market soon. "Why don't you go for me." Reba stated with a smile. She then got up and walked into the kitchen to get a drink of water.
Cheyenne frowned as she watched her mother leave so suddenly. "You guys go on without us." She said to Barbara Jean and Elizabeth.
Cheyenne walked into the kitchen and saw her mother sitting at the table, a glass of wine in front of her. Her eyes widened. "Mom!" She immediately ran over and took the glass from her. "You can't drink, you're pregnant!"
Reba sighed. "I know. I wasn't drinking. I was just looking at it, thinking about how much I could use it to calm my nerves."
Cheyenne smiled and sat down next to her mother. "You shouldn't be nervous. This is dad! You know dad. You were married to him before."
"I know but…" Reba groaned and ran a hand through her hair. "I was a different person the first time we were married. I was the stay at home Mom while he went to work. I don't know if I will be able to do that for the rest of my life."
"I don't think Dad expects you to just go right back into being the happy homemaker. He knows you're different. He has seen this new Reba and he loves her just the same. You haven't changed much Mom. Yes you are more independent but that doesn't matter to Dad. He loves you so much. I don't understand why you're nervous."
Reba shrugged. "I don't know either. I know he loves me. I know he will take care of me. I must be just nervous about tomorrow and hoping everything will go well."
"Everything will be perfect Mom." Cheyenne smiled and placed a comforting hand on her Mom's arm. "Everything is ready. All you need to do is slip into your dress and say I do."
Reba chuckled and patted her daughter's hand. "Thanks honey."
"You're welcome Mom. Now let's get back into the living room before Barbara Jean cheats…again."
"I will be there in a minute. I'm just going to dump this wine back into the bottle." Cheyenne nodded and left her Mom alone. Reba did as she said and dumped the wine back into the bottle and rinsed out the glass. She shouldn't be so nervous but she couldn't shake the feeling that something bad might happen tomorrow.
A/N: Below are two links to Reba's dress and the bridesmaid dresses. Now you can change the color and there is no ribbon so you will have to imagine that and Elizabeth's dress is just like the dress only with straps. I don't do clothes decriptions very well so I thought it was fitting to provide links.
End of Chapter